Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-10-20
General Mahone's No. @ Remedy.

To tire Editor Of the Dispatch:
General Malone has made five diff
ferent statements of the public debt,
two of them in one act of Assembly, az
has been shown at page s of the
RCpiV 10 General MGhOnc' assault on
tic Democratic Party and the ROa-
aOke Platform. These estimates vary
from Sl5.3j0, 500. 90 wing, July l,
1SSl-to $50, l42, 930-letter to Warner
Miller, Wing, May II, 1885, being on
increase of $40, 1902, 32O.6O. or 1856
per cent. III four years. 1t is on that
account, perhaps, that the Nati0nM
Republican Of October 18th, rs if
standing in his shoes, puts forth
a plan possibly to nmuse the public
which, as L suppose General Ma
hone to have sanctioned it, /
call his No. 6 remedy. The plan
is elaborated in an editorial, and also
illustrated with straight-line work in
an extra sheet and submitted to tho
people OF Virginia" presumably the
Republican people. 1t is introduced
by the truthful observations that the
Virginia debt is the most important
question the people will have TO con-
slider when they go to the polls, dwarf
ing all others, and therefore TO be con-
sidered without the slightest partisan
bias; and that at the close of the war,
when reconstructed, Virginia was i'm
pOverished to greater extent than any
other of the southern States.
And having said this, he begins to
make statements which even General
Malone should not allow nor wink at.
% Omitting entirely the funding bill
of 1871, he begins with the McCulloch
bill, which, he says, twas an agree
ment to pay the eutire debt and & per
cent. interest" Everybody knows that
the McCulloch bill never did agree to
pay the entire debt, nor per cent. in
terest, but only two thirds of the entire
debt and per cent. average interest IN
tax-receiyable coupons.
(2) Then came the Riddleberger bill,
of which he says: Gone of the condl-
lions Of this settlement was that the
coupons on this new issue of bonds
should be receivable for all taxes due
the State" Now everybody knows that
not only was there no such provision,
hut that one object Of the Riddleberger
bill was to prevent the use Of coupons
for taxes
(3) "This bill did not become a law, "
as the editor says it did, "while the
Republican party were in power" nor
did the Readjusters affiliate with the
Republicans upon national issues" nor
"take the name Of that party" as he
says. There were 81, 527 of them, and
as the Democratic vote in 1888 was
144,S85, against Democratic vote oil
100. 1853 in lSSl--a difference OF A, 127-
il shows that a very large portion OF
this 81, 527 votes accepted the overturef
of the Democratic Lynchburg Conven.
tion and reunited with that party.
(4) "Since that time (the election
of Democratic Legislature in 1888
q law has been passed." says our ed
itor, (which prescribed methods Of
making coupons he means Riddleber
ger couponsl available for taxes so vex
atious as to almost annul their value.
NOW EVERYBODY KNOWS
that the coupons are paid IN cash a
fast as they mature, and that there i,
not, nor has there ever been, any litiga
ton or question raised that delayed
their payment one hour after maturity
Everybody knows that what he cali,
"yexatious methods to wit, Coupon
Killer Nos. ! and 2-were passed by
the Readjusters, and that it is these
that are at the bottom OF all the suits
which have caused depreciation in
the price Of bonds and coupons.
90 Next he asserts that he has "care.
fully examined into the resources OF
the State, the growth and development
OF its vast but heretofore neglected
wealth, &c. And the result OF this
"careful examination is plan which
consists in fixing the debt sat about
$4,000. 0O0," with new bonds running
thirty years, TO be issued 10 place Of
those now out, "with O two-mill tax 70
be set aside to pay the interest and re-
tire the bonds.
Now it will be observed that
THIS PROPOSITION
10 pay "about s25, 900, 600" fixes upon
"about" the amount, S24, 227, 700,
which General Mshone's address says
was "in violation OF their (the Demo